


December 12 - 13 giggling Gamgees

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Multi-Age, Other - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-14
Updated: 2005-12-10
Packaged: 2018-03-22 21:39:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3744473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Today's writing "mathom" is:</p><p>thirteen giggling Gamgees</p><p>***</p><p>Write whatever you feel like – a drabble, a poem or a short story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Coming Home - by Gwynnyd

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

Elanor, Handmaid to the Queen, looked every inch a lady - tall and aloof in her beautiful, outlandish dress, her eyes grave - as the family surged noisily into the parlour to welcome her home.  
  
Rosie pulled Sam out into the hall, muttering about getting some tea.  
  
"Oh, Sam, she no longer belongs here."  
  
Sam held Rosie close. "Nonsense. She's still our Elanor. You'll see."  
  
Tea-trays ready, Rosie heard a commotion from the parlour. The door swung open to reveal a seething pile of giggling siblings.  
  
"Then the king grabbed Eldarion." Elanor, on the floor, reached over and tickled Ruby. "Like this!"  
  



	2. Merriment - RiverOtter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

Merriment  
  
Laughing and giggling  
Thirteen Gamgees in a heap  
Playing as children


	3. Watering the Roses -by Vistula

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

*Watering the Roses*  
  
September winds parted the kitchen curtains, exposing a fading garden landscape. Rose watched Sam stand, shoulders shaking, near the garden wall.  
  
'Even after all these years, *this* day still comes hard to him.' She sighed, setting down her parings.  
  
"Somethin' wrong mama?" Goldie chirruped.  
  
"Da's waterin' the roses again."  
  
The child patted her mother's hand, knowingly. "Should we fetch him for tea?"  
  
Gathered around the hearth, the rest of the Gamgee brood chimed in: "Oh, yes! Lets!"  
  
Smiling, their mother agreed: "C'mon."  
  
Followed by a flock of thirteen giggling children, Rosie set out to rescue her husband from his past.  
  



	4. The Dreary Yule - by Gronyats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

The Dreary Yule  
  (Tune: Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer_  
  
  You know Elanor, and Frodo and Merry and Pippin.  
  Goldilocks and Hamfast and Daisy and Robin.  
  But do you recall, the funniest Gamgee of all  
  
  Ruby the red-haired hobbit, had a very shiny head  
  And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows.  
  All of the other Gamgee's used to laugh and call her names,  
  They never let poor Ruby join in any Hobbit games.  
  Then one rainy Yule tide eve Gandalf came to say;  
  Ruby with your head so bright, won't you lead festivities tonight.  
  
  Then all the Gamgee's hugged her, as they shouted out with glee  
  As Ruby the red-haired Gamgee  
  Made them all laugh 'til three.


	5. Happy Yule by Aranel Took

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

"Happy Yule!" Gimli bellowed as he walked through the front door of Bag End, a bag slung over his back. Legolas followed behind him.

They were greeted by a rush of children. "Uncle Gimli! Uncle Legolas!" the children cried out and all thirteen surrounded their guests for hugs and kisses.

"Let them come in and warm up!" their mother admonished them.

Gimli and Legolas were seated by the parlor fire and fussed over by Sam and Rosie. Hot mugs of tea were put into their hands and a plate full of cookies were offered. Once they were warmed and fed, Gimli pulled his bag into his lap. "Who would like their Yule present?" he asked.

Thirteen voices all cried out, "Me!" At a stern look from Rosie they added, "Please."

Gimli chuckled and opened the bag he had laid at his feet. "Ho, ho! What do I have here?" he said cheerily. He winked at the children and pulled out a delicately carved wooden bird with jewels for eyes. "For Miss Elanor," he said, and Elanor stepped forward to receive her gift. He reached in again and pulled out a tree made from twined strands of metal and tiny green stones for leaves. "For Master Frodo." he said.

He continued eleven more times, until little Tom had received the final gift, a mechanical rabbit that moved its ears when a key was wound in its back. Then Gimli sat back to watch the happy, giggling children play with their gifts. He thought there wasn't any sound so delightful as the sound of a laughing hobbit child.

"They're wonderful gifts," Rosie said.

"I enjoy making things for the children," Gimli said. "Legolas even helped me." He gave a hearty laugh. "I never imagined elves would be so good at making toys!"


	6. Untitled - by Wolfwind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

_The Gamgees decided to be winter-y today.  Luckily, Rosie sent me this one nearly fully-formed, or I might've copped out._  
  
  
It was snowing outside, shaping up to be a regular blizzard.  The wind whistled past, if she listened closely.  Only darkness could be seen beyond the lamp in the window.  
  
These were the nights she loved best.  
  
The fire burned brightly, roasting the chestnuts as well as the little ones' toes.  All thirteen of her children sprawled around the hearth, chattering like a flock of magpies.  And if the talk threatened to turn to tears, up Sam would jump to sing his Troll Song, complete with gestures, until they rolled about, giggling.  
  
Yes, these were perfect nights.  This was home.


	7. Old Samwise Gamgee Had a Farm - by Agape4Gondor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

## Old Samwise Gamgee Had a Farm

Sam and Rosie had  **_ thirteen kids _ ** .    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh    
Thirteen kids meant twenty-nine pets.    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh.    
  
With a bah bah here    
And a neigh neigh there    
Here a woof,    
There a hoof,    
Everywhere a squeel, squeel,    
  
Sam and Rosie had thirteen kids,    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh.    
  
  
Sometimes they'd cry    
Sometimes they'd giggle    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh    
But most times they'd just sit and wiggle    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh    
  
Is it ready yet?    
And I'm hungry still    
Will you please be quiet?    
Will you please sit still?    
  
Sam and Rosie had thirteen kids    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh    
  
  
One fine spring day, they ran away    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh    
The kids looked under rock and hay    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh    
  
Where could be Sam?    
Rosie's disappeared?    
They went and hid    
And left us here.    
  
One fine spring day, they ran away.    
Ai, Ai, Ooooh! 


	8. A night at the Gamgees' - Part I by Lady Masterblott

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today's writing "mathom" is:

**13 giggling Gamgees…**

“… they were huge!” Merry disclaimed. 13 breathless little hobbits hung on his lips.

“How huge”, the inevitable tiny voice interrupted eventually. Hamfast, probably, or maybe, this time, little Primrose. Not that they had not heard this story before. Well, most of them, anyway.

Over the years, every detail had been engraved in the collective mind of the Gamgee offspring to an extent that practically made artistic license impossible. Whoever told the tale better minded their words.

“As huge as a…” Merry replied adequately carefully. “A…”

“A wolf?” little Bilbo asked.

“Much, much larger.”

“A tree?” one of the smaller ones asked and was promptly reprimanded by Elanor, who ruled her sibs by authority of being the oldest and hence having heard that story most often.

“The trees are later, stupid!”

“You are stupid!” Little Pippin stuck out his tongue at her.

Merry tried to ignore their banter and gratefully picked up a cue from the next Gamgee available. “A bear?” Daisy asked. She clearly had a thing for adventurous stories.

“Yes, about as large as a bear when it stands on its hind legs.”

“They sure were stinking as bears”, Pippin chimed in. “And they were hairy and mean and brutish. Their leader had fierce yellow eyes, and when he took out his knife and threatened to eat us - believe me, I thought that this was the end of it all, and I would never see the Shire again.”

Respectful silence followed his words.

And then, little Frodo said in a tiny voice: “But… you did, uncle Peregrin, didn’t you?”

“Of course he did”, Merry hurried to console him. “And so did I. But of course, back then, we could not know.”

“But why did they try to eat you?” one of the younger ones - Robin perchance - wanted to know.

“Because they were Urukhs and very hungry, and a hungry Urukh would eat almost everything,” Pippin replied.

“Just like you!” Merry could not refrain from saying, and took Pippins half-hearted blow to his upper arm good-naturedly.

“But would they… would they also eat little Hobbit children?” tiny Ruby asked. There was a tad of insecurity in her voice.

“They would especially love to eat little Hobbit children!” Pippin confirmed before Merry could say anything. “For little Hobbit children, they would run miles and miles and miles.”

The children said, mesmerized and speechless for a moment. This was a new twist in a well known story, hideous and fascinating alike.

“They smell them, you know?” Pippin went on, encouraged by the attentive faces of his audience, and hence displaying a moment of dangerous Tookish creativity. - “It is said that they smell them for miles ahead. If an Urukh knows that there are hobbit children somewhere, it can happen that he forgets about everything. And then he makes a plan. A clever plan, because Urukhs are very clever, you got to know. He will put on his silent shoes, and go to the place where the hobbit children live. And he will wait, hidden in the shadows. And if a child does not listen to his or her Ma and stays out after dark, he will wait for the right moment, and then he will… - _snatch_ her!”

And with that, he leaped forward and grabbed a shrieking Rose and lifted her up, tickling her wildly. All kids dashed off in all directions, shrieking wildly.

When Rosie came through the door, hands to her hips and shouting what the mayhem was all about, they had already collapsed into a giggling heap on the floor in front of the fireplace, and the elder ones did leave the merry round only reluctantly to help her mother prepare the dinner table while some others asked for another story already.

Only little Tolman, the youngest, sat in the corner, eyes wide, his thumb firmly placed in his mouth.

“That was a good one!” Merry said, appreciatory, when Rose called, mere minutes later, to announce that supper was on the table.

Pippin just grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “Natural talent,” he claimed.

(To be continued with "12 ticklish Urukh-hai")


End file.
